Anthony Davis misses out as DPOY finalist and Lakers' fans are rightly furious

Over the course of his 12-year career, Anthony Davis has established himself as one of the premier two-way players in the NBA. He's an elite offensive player and an even better defender.

While Davis can sometimes disappear on the offensive end, his defensive presence is always felt. While he has yet to win a Defensive Player of the Year Award, Davis has made four All-Defensive teams and is a three-time block champion.

The Los Angeles Lakers might have failed to meet expectations in the 2023-24 campaign, but Davis had one of, if not his best all-around season in a Lakers uniform. He played in 76 games, was an All-Star, and was elite defensively. Despite that, Davis curiously was not named a DPOY finalist. Lakers fans have every right to be upset about that.

Lakers fans have reason to be furious with Anthony Davis DPOY snub

In previous years, omitting Davis from DPOY consideration made sense because he didn't play enough. Everyone knows how lethal he is on the court, especially on that end, but he simply didn't play enough to earn it. This past season, though, he missed just six games and the stats were there.

Now, even if he was named a finalist, he'd have almost no shot at winning it. Rudy Gobert's impact on the league's best defense has been unmatched, and Victor Wembanyama did some historically great things defensively. That's not even taking into account the fact that he's a rookie. Davis was great but wasn't as great as those two. Bam Adebayo though? Yikes.

Adebayo has a reputation for being an elite defender, and rightfully so. He is, in fact, a really good defender. Better than AD though? That's where you lose me.

Adebayo averaged 1.1 steals per game and 0.9 blocks per game. His impact is felt more than it shows in the box score, but let's not act as if box score numbers don't matter at all. Davis averaged 1.2 steals and 2.3 blocks per game. He had well over 100 more blocked shots than Adebayo, yet it's Adebayo named a finalist.

To take it a step further, Davis was the far superior rebounder in 2024, averaging 12.6 rebounds per game compared to Adebayo's 10.4. What exactly is Davis being dinged for?

It's really hard to come up with an argument favoring Adebayo. Davis carried the Lakers' defense while Bam was surrounded most of the time by strong defenders and one of the best coaches in the NBA.

Again, Davis wasn't going to win it anyway, but he deserved to get recognized as a finalist. Certainly over Adebayo.